Top Hackers & Groups

Top Hackers (Individuals)

Kevin Mitnick

World’s most-wanted hacker turned security consultant and author.

Hamza Bendelladj (BX1)

Algeria

Notorious for banking/financial malware; arrested later.

Kevin Poulsen

Ex-hacker, used phone exploits to win radio contests; now journalist.

Adrian Lamo

Breach of corporate networks; reported Chelsea Manning.

Gary McKinnon

Hacked US military/NASA; claimed searching for UFO evidence.

Robert Tappan Morris

Created first widely spread Internet worm (1988); later CS professor.

Albert Gonzalez

Led large-scale credit-card theft ring; convicted and imprisoned.

Marcus Hutchins (MalwareTech)

Credited with halting WannaCry ransomware; later faced legal issues.

Jeanson James Ancheta

Early botnet operator for profit; convicted in 2000s.

Marcel “Guccifer” Lehel (Guccifer 1.0)

Romania

High-profile political/social hacks exposing personal data of public figures.

Tsutomu Shimomura

US/Japan

Security researcher; helped track Kevin Mitnick.

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko

Influential member of L0pht; later security researcher and executive.

Julian Assange

Australia

Founder of WikiLeaks; involved in large-scale disclosure of leaked documents.

LulzSec Members

Various

2011 stunt-hackers; audacious public hacks against media, gaming, and government.

Hector Monsegur (Sabu)

LulzSec member who later cooperated with law enforcement.

Vladimir Levin

Russia

Credited with one of the first bank-transfer hacks (late 1990s).

Chris Roberts

Infosec personality; known for claims on aircraft system exploits.

Raven

Various

Aliases for authors of major banking trojans and malware families.

Max Butler (Iceman)

Ran card-trading marketplaces; convicted but later worked in security.

Julian “Sabu”

Various

Alias overlap from LulzSec era; involved in multiple famous incidents.

Notorious Hacker Teams & Collectives

Anonymous

Global

Decentralized hacktivist collective; DDoS, doxxing, activism worldwide.

LulzSec

Global

2011 stunt-hacking group; targeted media, gaming, government.

Chaos Computer Club (CCC)

Europe

Europe’s largest hacking collective; research and civil liberties focus.

Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc)

Produced tools and promoted hacktivism and security research.

Equation Group

State-linked

Sophisticated actor linked to advanced implants and espionage operations.

Fancy Bear / APT28

Russia

State-linked APT group; political/espionage intrusions.

Cozy Bear / APT29

Russia

State-linked intelligence operations and espionage activities.

Lizard Squad

Global

High-profile DDoS attacks against gaming services and other disruptive campaigns.

Shadow Brokers

Global

Publicly released NSA cyberweapons/exploits, triggering major fallout.

Anonymous Sudanese / Regional Cells

Various

Regional/ideological variants tied to specific campaigns.

APT10 (Stone Panda)

China

Linked to large-scale supply-chain and corporate espionage campaigns.

Team-Xecuter

Global

Console-modding and piracy-related group; often targeted by law enforcement.

FIN7 / Carbanak Group

Global

Financially motivated cybercrime group specializing in POS and corporate theft.

Equation Group Leak Affiliates / Exploit Brokers

Global

Networks trading or leaking advanced exploits.

RedTeam / Penetration Test Collectives

Various

Legitimate penetration-test teams with origins in hacker culture.